Y’all

Good people must have a foundation. Mine is my faith. Obedience to the principles and authorities of that foundation are essential to living a good life. If you build against the dictates of a foundation, your structure will be fragile, susceptible to the storms of this world.

This builds greatly on the other virtues. It requires a lot of faith in your foundation, and a firm believe that it is good. You must develop a great amount of knowledge to understand how to be obedient and the wisdom to apply it. The honesty to know when you are being obedient or willful and the humility to put aside your own ego.

Obedience is a virtue.

Paladin Life:
Train – Teach – Prepare – Stand Firm – Be Humble – Believe in Good

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Y’all

I spent this morning thinking of something wise to say about humility, and noticed the irony.

Humility is the solid foundation of all virtues. - Confucius

It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels. - Saint Augustine

Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility. -Saint Augustine

Self-confidence is very important. But without compassion and humility, it’s just arrogance -Anonymous

For the Christians:
Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which you have in Christ Jesus, who though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:3–11)

Humility is a virtue.

Paladin Life:
Train – Teach – Prepare – Stand Firm – Be Humble – Believe in Good

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Y’all

Good people should strive to present ourselves without pretense or the attempt of deception. Honesty should encompass far beyond just the words we speak, but how we act and how we live our lives. We should work hard to not live as a hypocrite and show people who we actually are. Our words, our actions, and the way we live our lives should be a true reflection us.

We cannot conform to a world that honors lies; who call evil good and good evil.` Instead, we live our lives honestly, without attempts at desception.

Christians, Jesus condemns hypocrisy strongly. He has made it clear we are to treasure honesty and work diligently to live an honest life.

Honesty is a virtue.

Paladin Life:
Train – Teach – Prepare – Stand Firm – Be Humble – Believe in Good

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Y’all

I saw an interesting definition of wisdom; the practical understanding and grasping of what is true and right in its living expression and form. This definition aligns with the goals of good people. Unlike the corrupted world, which seeks to teach that right and true are subjective, good people seek the know the truth and use our foundation in faith to guide us. True wisdom is living out the real truth and doing what is truly right.

Wisdom is a virtue.

Paladin Life:
Train – Teach – Prepare – Stand Firm – Be Humble – Believe in Good

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Y’all

We are designed to search out the truth. It is truly an evil person who would seek to withhold knowledge from another. The book of Romans says “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.”

We seek out to understand creation because we want to have the knowledge and the truth. We need to not only believe that the truth is out there, or have hope that the truth will win out, but actively seek to know the truth.

This is especially true in this world of lies, gaslighting, and propaganda. We cannot rely on the corrupt and their heralds in the media. We must seek it out like a hunter seeking to feed his family.

Knowledge is a virtue.

Paladin Life:
Train – Teach – Prepare – Stand Firm – Be Humble – Believe in Good

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Y’all

Hope goes along with faith. It would be impossible to have faith without hope. It could be argued, and I do, that without hope there is no moving forward in anything. We could say that we have no hope of something, but if we truly didn’t, despondency would be our reaction. Despair would be our state.

As good people, we should strive to keep hope alive despite the tyrannical nature of the unseen power that controls this dark world; we will eventually have salvation and restoration of righteousness. There is no virtue in feeling weak and helpless in the face of evil. It is by our hope, and the faith that derives from it, that we continue the fight; continue working towards a good world.

For Christians, we place our hope in our Savior.

Hope is a virtue.

Paladin Life:
Train – Teach – Prepare – Stand Firm – Be Humble – Believe in Good

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Y’all

Faith is defined as complete trust or confidence in someone or something. It is also defined as belief and trust in and loyalty to God, which I think most would identify with in this context.

I completely believe that faith in God is fundamental to being good, but that should not surprise you from what I’ve said in the past. Faith in God is the foundation for a healthy spiritual life. I will try to discuss that more later.

Good people should also have faith in his or her self. We must have faith in our ability to know and do good. To believe that doing good is possible, profitable, and worthy of our efforts. The world today would convince us that the opposite is true, and we should be out for number one.

To have faith, we must strive to be faithful to ourselves and others. We must put in the work to prove ourselves faithful. Just as important, we must surround ourselves with others who we have faith in. Leadership should strive to be faithful, as we can see in this modern world the disaster faithless leadership can bring on us.

Faith is a virtue.

Paladin Life:
Train – Teach – Prepare – Stand Firm – Be Humble – Believe in Good

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Y’all

The Orthodox Christian Faith teaches of the Virtues; Faith, Hope, Knowledge, Wisdom, Honesty, Humility, Obedience, Patience, Courage, Faithfulness, Self-Control, Kindness, Gratitude. These are important to good people who strive to implement them.

Oaths don’t seem to be fashionable anymore. I took an oath when I enlisted. I see oaths in fiction, such as the Doc Savage oath or the Green Lantern oath, as reflections in what used to be a desire to be good and follow these virtues. There is also St. Patrick’s Breastplate as a great example (google it).

And I do see these virtues in many oaths I run across in real life and fiction. I’m not saying we should all come up with oaths, but the attitude towards them in the past seems to be centered around people who want to strive to be good.

Paladin Life:
Train – Teach – Prepare – Stand Firm – Be Humble – Believe in Good

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Y’all

The path of corruption is to go deeper and deeper. Once started on that path, people are drawn, coaxed, and sometimes pressured to continue that path. In a corrupted world, stepping on that path is as easy as going with the flow. Leaving the path is like walking upstream in a fast river. But the rewards are worth it.

Paladin Life:
Train – Teach – Prepare – Stand Firm – Be Humble – Believe in Good

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Y’all

The Japanese word Intoku means Good done in secret. The book of Matthew implores us to not practice our righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. Good people do not do good things so they will be recognized as good. Good people do good things because that is what good people do.

Paladin Life: they will be Train – Teach – Prepare – Stand Firm – Be Humble – Believe in Good

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Y’all

Good people will hold loyalty in a very high regard. They will support their family, friends, and allies. They will correct them if they are wrong, in a private or civil manner. They will support the company or boss they work for. They will fight for their country.

Things change if that loyalty is not reciprocated, is taken advantage of, or misused.

Paladin Life:
Train – Teach – Prepare – Stand Firm – Be Humble – Believe in Good

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Y’all!

Good people, the other side is proving that they cannot defeat us unless they corrupt us. Stand firm in your foundation.

Paladin Life:
Train – Teach – Prepare – Stand Firm – Be Humble – Believe in Good

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Y’all!

It is possible to do good deeds for selfish reasons. The parable of the Last Judgement speaks to this (Matthew 25:31–46).

I won’t judge others for their motivation, but for myself, though I may not be there yet, I will strive to do good not to promote myself but out of love of others.

Paladin Life:
Train – Teach – Prepare – Stand Firm – Be Humble – Believe in Good

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Hey Y’all

Guard your mind, your heart, and your spirit. The battle is on to control and what they cannot control, to destroy.

Paladin Life:
Train – Teach – Prepare – Stand Firm – Be Humble – Believe in Good

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Hey Y’all

“Truth is not what you want it to be; it is what it is. And you must bend to its power or live a lie.” - Miyamoto Musashi

Truth is not subjective. It’s not your truth, my truth, Fred’s truth. There is the truth, and as the Sword Saint says, bend to it or live a lie.

Our current age, and the powers-that-want-to-be^tm, rely on us living their reality. Good people, our way should be to never knowingly support lies. It’s gonna hurt, but that’s the choice.

Paladin Life:
Train – Teach – Prepare – Stand Firm – Be Humble – Believe in Good

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Hey Y’all

Allow yourself to be weaponized against evil. Love and support each other. Help those the need help. Always seek the truth and be a speaker of truth. Speak civilly, even in disagreement, and only accept civil discourse. Do not be distracted by things that are not ultimately important, or that you cannot change. Stand on your foundation and refuse to step off.

Paladin Life:
Train – Teach – Prepare – Stand Firm – Be Humble – Believe in Good

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Hey Y’all

“He has spoken the words of life, words of love, forgiveness, repentance, virtue, and mercy. His words will be the unbending standard by which all people are judged on the last day.”

Paladin Life:
Train – Teach – Prepare – Stand Firm – Be Humble – Believe in Good

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 Hey Y’all

There is little difference between a Psyop and Spiritual Warfare. Both seek to undermine your foundation in what you know or believe.

We are past the time where good people should be standing by the bedrock of truth and telling the whole world if necessary, “No! Here I stand!”

Paladin Life:
Train – Teach – Prepare – Stand Firm – Be Humble – Believe in Good

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Hey Y’all

When you humble yourself, everyone will seem saintly to you.
When you are proud, everyone will seem bothersome and bad.
~ St. Joseph the Hesychast.

Paladin Life:
Train – Teach – Prepare – Stand Firm – Be Humble – Believe in Good

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Hey Y’all

Go early and help setup.

Stay late and help clean up.

Paladin Life:
Train – Teach – Prepare – Stand Firm – Be Humble – Believe in Good

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